A CNN investigation has uncovered a disturbing online ecosystem where millions of users consume videos depicting individuals who appear to be unconscious or in deep sleep, raising serious legal and ethical concerns.
According to the report, more than 62 million people visit an adult website, where such clips attract upwards of 50,000 views.
In several videos, men are seen pulling up the eyelids of women who appear to be asleep or drugged to demonstrate they are not awake.
The content is often tagged with labels such as #passedout and #eyecheck to make it easily searchable.
CNN reported that some users go further, sharing advice on how to secretly administer drugs to their partners.
Despite this, the platform maintained that it only allowed legal content, even as concerns grow that some of the material may violate the law.
The investigation also traced similar activity to other platforms.
Posing as a user in a private Telegram chat group known as “Zzz”, CNN journalists encountered individuals openly discussing non-consensual acts.
One user from Poland admitted to recording his wife without her knowledge, writing, “I managed to record a clip once she had the last two pills. My wife doesn’t even know I recorded it.”
Other members of the group openly solicited advice.
“Who has experience drugging their wives?” one user asked, while another wrote, “Been wanting to do this to my Mrs. But I am afraid of overdosing her.”
In response, some participants offered guidance. “Always start low. You are thinking long game so if first time ain’t enough, up the dose,” one user wrote.
The content was also commercialised.
Some users offered to sell access to videos showing alleged abuse of unconscious partners, while others advertised drugs, including a tasteless and odourless liquid said to render a person unconscious. One seller priced the substance at Sh22,589 ($175), claiming, “Your wife won’t feel anything and won’t remember anything.”
In some cases, users charged viewers to watch live streams.
“Yeah, it went well, that night three guys bought and I streamed my unconscious wife to them,” one individual told CNN, adding that payments were typically made in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin to avoid detection.
Victims interviewed by CNN described their shock after discovering what had happened to them.
Zoe Watts, who said her husband of 16 years drugged and raped her, reflected on the betrayal, saying, “We worry about who’s coming behind us, walking down the street, or who’s even friending us on Facebook. You know, we worry about going to our car late at night in a car park, but we don't worry about who you lie next to. I didn't realise I had to.”
Sourced exclusively from CNN